Very interesting also is the case of _Polyommatus Phlæas_, Linn., one of our commonest _Lycænidæ_, which has a very wide distribution, extending from Lapland to Spain and Sicily.[27] If we compare specimens of this beautiful copper-coloured butterfly from Lapland with those from Germany, no constant difference can be detected; the insect has, however, but one annual generation in Lapland, whilst in Germany it is double-brooded; but the winter and summer generations resemble each other completely, and specimens which had been caught in spring on the Ligurian coast were likewise similarly coloured to those from Sardinia. (Fig. 21, Plate II.). According to these facts we might believe this species to be extraordinarily indifferent to climatic influence; but the South European summer generation differs to a not inconsiderable extent from the winter generation just mentioned, the brilliant coppery lustre being nearly covered with a thick sprinkling of black scales. (Plate II., Fig. 22.) The species has thus become seasonally dimorphic under the influence of the warm southern climate, although this is not the case in Germany where it also has two generations in the year.[28] No one who is acquainted only with the Sardinian summer form, and not with the winter form of that place, would hesitate to regard the former as a climatic variety of our _P. Phlæas_; or, conversely, the north German form as a climatic variety of the southern summer form--according as he accepts the one or the other as the primary form of the species.
Still more complex are the conditions in another species of _Lycænidæ_, _Plebeius Agestis_ (= _Alexis_ Scop.), which presents a double seasonal dimorphism. This butterfly appears in three forms; in Germany A and B alternate with each other as winter and summer forms, whilst in Italy B and C succeed each other as winter and summer forms. The form B thus occurs in both climates, appearing as the summer form in Germany and as the winter form in Italy. The German winter variety A, is entirely absent in Italy (as I know from numerous specimens which I have caught), whilst the Italian summer form, on the other hand, (var. _Allous_, Gerh.), does not occur in Germany. The distinctions between the three forms are sufficiently striking. The form A (Fig. 18, Plate II.) is blackish-brown on the upper side, and has in the most strongly marked specimens only a trace of narrow red spots round the borders; whilst the form B (Fig. 19, Plate II.) is ornamented with vivid red border spots; and C (Fig. 20, Plate II.) is distinguished from B by the strong yellowish-brown of the under side. If we had before us only the German winter and the Italian summer forms, we should, without doubt, regard them as climatic varieties; but they are connected by the form B, interpolated in the course of the development of both, and the two extremes thus maintain the character of mere seasonal forms.